FF/RWD: College Conference TV Roster Keeps Expanding Depth Chart

College sports has long been big business, with the fight for TV rights about as tough as a goal-line stand. The Southeastern Conference and ESPN are getting in the conference channel game with the SEC Network, launching Aug. 14.

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For college football fans, December means much more than Happy Holidays. With this season’s introduction of the playoff system and back-to-back bowl game triple-headers on ESPN, there are plenty of gifts to hand off.

ABC hops back into the singing competition game with 'Rising Star,' another twist on a successful overseas formula. In a saturated genre, the network hopes to follow 'The Voice'—and the early days of 'American Idol'—to a gold ratings record, in a format that goes back to radio days.

Washington’s intersection of politics and power has been a go-to setting for TV shows for decades. But the presidential hagiographies (and JFK obsessing) of yore have yielded to far more 'Scandal'-ous fare.

NBC's competition series 'Last Comic Standing' returns May 22 after four years away. Stand-up has long been a part of variety shows and late-night talkers, and TV history has seen its share of series devoted to performers with hand-held microphones, hoping to make 'em laugh.

Fox picks up where Carl Sagan's iconic PBS series 'Cosmos' left off, debuting a 13-part successor March 9. The network may seem an unlikely home for a documentary science series, but there are powerful forces behind it.